Improvement in apparatus for press-dyeing stripes for flags



DE WITT C. FARRING'TON.

Improvementin Apparatus foluPress Dyeing Stripes for Flags.

No. 124,427. PatentedMarchi2,1872.

mmwm.

WWW/67%. v 7 f i if! UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DE WITT O. FARRINGTON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,427, dated March12, 1872.

1, DE WITT O. FARRINGTON, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex andCommonwealth ,of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inthe Apparatus used for Press- Dyeing, of which the following is aspecification:

My invention relates to certain improvements in the apparatus employedfor pressdyeing purposes, and is especially valuable when applied to themanufacture of flags and signals. By the use of my improved apparatusthe stripes of the American flag are produced with more cleanly-cutedges, and with less trouble, loss of material, and expense of makingthan by the use of the apparatus commonly employed for press-dyeing.

A is a bed-plate, onwhich rests a series of hollow rectangularframe-dies of wood or metal, arranged one above the other, and marked 1,2, 3, respectively. Each frame-die is secured and kept in form by asufficient number of wood or metal stay-rods. Surmounting and restingupon the said dies is the plate B, similar in construction to the plateA, and forming with it, by means of the cross-beams c 0 c and d d d, inconnection with the screw-bolts f f f, a clamp, which can easily beadjusted to a required pressure at any 'given point in the press, andWhich, when in use, saves the fabric between the dies when the apparatusis immersed in the dyeingliquor.

The press above described is used as follows: The top plate B, togetherwith all the dies but the one which rests on the bottom A, are firstremoved; the fabric to be dyed is then placed in one or more layers, asrequired, upon the frame-die 1, such portion of it as it is desired tocolor being left projecting from its edge; frame 2 is then placedexactly over and upon frame 1, and the fabric is again placed upon it asit was on frame 1. This operation is continued until the press is full,or till the requisite quantity is disposed of. When it is 1 desirable todye the fabric in one continuous piece of indefinite length, the clothmay be passed from die 1 to 2, from die 2 to 3, &c., through an opening,either beveled or square, in the dies, as shown in frame-die No.2. Thetop plate B is then placed in position, and the nuts upon thescrew-bolts f f f are turned down till the whole bundle is clampedfirmly together. When it is immersed in the dye-vat that portion of thefabric which is squeezed between the frame-dies is kept from contactwith the dye-liquor, and therefore retains its original color; theremainder, being exposed to the liquor, is colored thereby.

By the press-dyeing method commonly in use I have found it impossible toproduce a stripe wider than five or six inches with cleancut edges. Thisis owing to the fact that the dies used are not hollow, but solid and itis a practical impossibility to clamp solid dies of a greater width thanthat above mentioned so that there shall be no cavity between said dieswhere the dyeing-liquor may penetrate and disturb the regularity of thestripe-line. By my improved method the frame-dies, being hollow andlight, yield, adjust, and fit themselves to each other and to theclamp-plates with a comparatively light pressure.

I disclaim the patents granted to John Holt March 26, 1867, for methodof making dies for figures in press-dyed fabrics, and April 26, 1870,for improvement in signal and other flags.

I do not claim as my invention the process of pressdyeing, as saidprocess was patented by Edward Brierly December 11, 1849; but

What I do claim as my invention is-- The combination of the hollow orframed dies 1 2 3 with the other operating parts, the whole constructedand arranged substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

DE WITT G. FABRINGTON.

Witnesses ABEL T. ATHERTON, ALBERT M. Moonn.

